Family Loses Home in Fire

Authorities are calling the charred home, located at 213 Cherokee Dr., a total loss.

The call came in just after 10am Saturday morning, and five units responded to the blaze. Neighbors in the area said they heard sounds of explosions coming from the garage, and that they're glad the owners were not in the house at the time.

To neighbors, the fire was quite the wake-up call -- a scene they would like to forget.

"An inferno," said neighbor Jean Harvey. "It was an inferno with huge amounts of black smoke and successive explosions."

Because of the nature of the fire, neighborhood safety precautions were taken.

"Whenever the police department got here, the officers went door-to-door in all the surrounding houses to make sure no one else was in the house and if they were, the were asked to come outside and move further down the block," said Sgt. Chris Lindsay of the Jefferson City Police. "All the other area residents were already outside and were safe."

Fire fighters do not know what caused the fire, and investigators have been called to the scene. Red Cross workers will work with the family in the mean time.